Stare Dare

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Stare Dare

 

If anyone's up for a dare, stare at this sucker for a few minutes:

 

 

How's that for trance-inducing?

 

I got it off a Jungian Facebook group I belong to. I like this: non-form goes to neurons to female human form to... er... mushrooms?

 

 

I know there has to be something Randian to say about this modern form of gif art, but damned if I know what it is.

 

 

Michael

[Brant Gaede]

You can't maintain a stare at a fluctuating object like this. The movement is in the object, not your head. To get movement and distortion in your head stare at a fixed something or someone over a few minutes and your brain will manufacture distortions. I did that to Nathaniel Branden once as he just sat there looking back at me and he went visually wacko as I described to everyone (and him) the different things I was seeing. One side of his face blew up to several times its actual size. Etc. What you just put up keeps breaking up one's concentration causing unfortunate lingering effects. I'd avoid natural light when staring at it. Your pupils won't know how to dilate properly with two main sources of illumination, one much brighter than the other. I'd also turn off any other artificial light source. I'll try again tonight.

--Brant

[william.scherk]

The movement is in the object, not your head.

I wasn't sure about that, since some optical illusions of movement are composed of non-moving elements.

So, I slowed the animation down, temorally separating the six images contained. Now we can see the slight variations in placement that give rise to the freaky/queasy/fit-inducing feeling.

I can't stare at the fast rotation -- probably because of saccadic movement.

-- See if this image gives you the illusion of movement, Brant. Look at the corners, then the centre:

Edited June 27, 2015 by william.scherk

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

To get movement and distortion in your head stare at a fixed something or someone over a few minutes and your brain will manufacture distortions.

Brant,

Whether you are into this kind of thing or not, I found a beautiful source of inspiration for writing that is Jungian in nature and reflects what you say above. I believe it works even for those who do not like Jung's ideas.

It comes from a book called Story Alchemy: The Search for the Philosopher's Stone of Storytelling by David Sheppard.

The chapter with the following image is online here.

Consider for this exercise that:

Ego consciousness = intent

Consciousness = awareness

Shadow = personal experience recorded in the unconscious

Collective unconscious = innate brain stuff

This removes any mystical considerations.

Now what you can do is turn your mental eye from looking outward to looking backward and inward. Here's another image that illustrates this (from Chapter 7).

You try to visualize something or someone in your mind's eye. Then you try to make this as real-looking as you can in your imagination and stare at it. Pretty soon it will animate all by itself. All you have to do is let it do what it wants and follow where it goes. The longer you can keep this going, the better.

After you come out of that kind of trance, you write down whatever you believe is worth writing about. Since it came from a deep place within you, whatever you write about will tend to have an enhanced tone of authenticity and feeling.

I've done this a few times and I really like it for coming up with interesting fictional events in otherwise mundane fictional situations.

Michael

[Brant Gaede]

Since you said "Jung," Ellen will soon arrive.

[BaalChatzaf]

-- See if this image gives you the illusion of movement, Brant. Look at the corners, then the centre:

Nope. But when I jiggle it up and down I get an illusion of motion

[Peter]

I'm think I will protest that Wendy's commercial with the captivating redhead (not Wendy.) Damn would I like to . . . See it's making me buy more Wendy's burgers, hold the pickle and the mayo, and that is not fair.